I think
by mindlessdreamer3
Summary: Set post 2x15 with Wade and Zoe's relationship at a crossroads, Zoe hears Wade is about to leave Bluebell causing her to demand some answers. Angsty Fluff ensues. OneShot.


_Hi all, so after my first dip in the pool of fanfiction I couldn't help but come back for more. Thank you for all the lovely reviews on 'Come back, be here' it really made me want to write again. _

_This is pure angsty/fluffy/cheese, but I couldn't shake it out of my head._

_Please let me know what you think and enjoy!_

It had been two days of silence, two days since the fallout, since Wade had simply told Zoe "this isn't going to work out" and left her shocked and broken in the doorway of her carriage house. She wanted to hate him, to tell him that he had turned out to be just the guy everyone had warned her about. He hadn't cheated but he didn't want her either, she wasn't entirely sure what was worse. She was walking through town square when she overheard Wanda telling Tom that Wade was skipping town and that she'd tried to convince him to stay but his mind was made up. Before she had time to finish eavesdropping her feet were carrying her to the plantation.

As Zoe approached she saw Wade shoving boxes into the trunk of his car. He spotted her and his brows furrowed.

"Where the hell are you going?" she screamed, hands on hips, acting very...Zoe.

"does it matter?" he sighed running his hand through his messy hair.

She couldn't believe him, how he could be so nonchalant after everything. "does it matter? DOES IT MATTER?" she screeched making a mental note to tone it down, she shoved him hard in the shoulder. "Yes you ass it matters, so what the whole of Bluebell thinks you cheated on me, so you're fleeing town?"

He took a step back, taking a breath "calm down Zoe this is so much bigger than that and you know it" he said looking her straight in the eye for the first time since this whole mess.

"Oh I'm sorry...Is it because you dumped me without reason? Or you didn't get your money? Or maybe it's just you finally realised I really am so horrendous to be around you feel the need to leave the place you've lived your entire life?... which one is it Wade? because I thought I knew you just about better than anyone and I can't even figure out why you are leaving right now... leaving me." Feeling herself beginning to get chocked up Zoe looked to the sky, desperately not wanting to break in front of him, not now.

"Zo" he stepped back forward stroking her arm.

She jolted away, releasing his touch "just, just stop it..." she felt herself getting angry again but she wanted answers and if he had the audacity to try and sneak out of town she would get them. "You know you can go, you can leave me and Lavon and your Dad, but before you do please just tell me why you ended it and don't even start with any 'it's me not you' crap ok Wade, I deserve the truth, I can handle rejection better than just about anybody but you have been the only person who I've ever let in who has always been honest with me, so don't think you can go without telling me what I did to ruin this."

Wade couldn't believe she even thought this was her fault, he shook his head and started to pace "baby you didn't ruin a thing" he wanted to explain, he did, he just didn't know himself, not really. After a long pause and with Zoe's gaze burning a hole through his skull he grabbed her hand and pulled her down to sit next to him on the porch step. "You know my Dad once told me a story about my Mom, he was a troublemaker always getting himself into scrapes this one time he'd been let off his job, he was devastated, had been saving up to take Momma on a road trip, didn't want to let her down, so he drank a little too much and ended up getting himself into trouble with the sheriff, trespassing I think he said, anyway when he got home to Mom after a night in the cells, his tail between his legs ready for her to dump his sorry ass, she said 'you know I don't need the road trip, but I do need you Kinsella' and that was when he knew that somehow he had managed to make her love him like he did her" he paused remembering his Mom and imagining how disappointed she would have been, Zoe who hadn't yet let go, squeezed his hand to proceed "Look, when you gave me that bar sign Zoe, it was that moment. That moment that I knew that this was bigger than me screwing up by using all of your fancy shampoo, bigger than my lack of career or even George freakin Tucker... because you were really in this too. I have spent my entire life trying not to be my Dad, a screw up, a drunk an embarrassment" he laughed bitterly. He then turned to face Zoe squarely "but you know it turns out that what I was most afraid of was loving someone how he loved my Mom and knowing that someday I'd lose them. It may be selfish but I can't go through that again Zoe, I can't lose you."

Zoe replied in a whisper "I wasn't going anywhere."

He couldn't help but think how they had managed to get back here again, back to this same issue. He wanted her to understand."Yeah for now, but can you really imagine your life as a small town GP married to a bartender?"

She interrupted quickly "Bar owner."

He shook his head and sighed as he let go of her hand and stood up and away from the porch, she followed suit before they were once again face to face. "No Zoe, bartender, that is it for me... and you deserve so much more than I will ever be able to give you, I know you probably haven't envisioned us having a life together but I have and every time it ends the same, with me letting you down."

"Wade I'm almost thirty years old. I'm not screwing around, I want to get married some day, I want kids and ok I hadn't picked out their names but you really think I hadn't considered a future with you? Spending my life with you? I didn't buy you that sign as a misplaced attempt at pity or to change you or bump up your ego, it's because I'm falling in love with you, you idiot!" she shouted with a laugh, admitting it had actually been easier than she had imagined. "I had never been so proud of you, when you talked about how you wanted the bar, you were so determined and inspired and brave and god when you said you wanted it to be a place for families, making memories like you had with your Mom, I couldn't stop thinking how this was all going so good, me and you...and what our family would be like, what we could maybe have one day."

She looked up from her rant and saw Wade just staring at her, not freaking out, not running, just looking right at her, like she was the only person in the world.

"...but then the next day you absolutely broke my heart." It was too late for holding back the tears now, wiping her face she almost whispered "So really this has nothing to do with whether you won that stupid contest or get that bar now or in a year or in ten, don't you dare ever think so little of me."

Wade rarely saw her this vulnerable, she was always so strong. He hated himself because he did this, he broke her spirit. He just didn't know what to say "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, just take all those damn boxes out of the car and make it up to me."

"I can't."

"Yes you can Wade."

There she went again, believing in him, it was exactly that which made him push her away in the first place, you can't disappoint people if you don't have people to disappoint.

"Zoe the only thing on earth that scares me more than how I feel about you is how you feel about me.

She was at her wits end, and had gone from crying to absolutely furious in less than a minute.

"You don't think I'm scared?" she bellowed "Honestly Kinsella I changed my entire world to come to a place where not only did I not fit in, but also where I wasn't wanted. But you know, I really love it here, this is my home and that is largely because of you. I wasn't lying when I told you I had no plans to go back to New York so you don't get to leave either, you're my best friend and I can't be here without you. You know you once told me to change my picture, well I think it's time you took your own advice and changed yours."

Wade sighed, he knew she was right, but they were also extremely stubborn and Zoe Hart never held back. It also turned out Wade Kinsella never missed an opportunity to tease her; "Oh really" he said.

She knew what he was doing, he turned on the charm to calm her down. It's their thing, or was, she wasn't sure anymore. Even in the midst of everything he had the ability to make her feel better, be better.

"Yes, you have this picture in YOUR head that you aren't worth anything, that drinking away your days in your tip of a house with a revolving door or women is all there is for you. Well you're wrong. If it's all about being honest about what makes you happy Wade then you will just stay, please just stay and try this thing again with me. I'm not going to beg but I will lay it all on the line..." she paused, walked towards him and grabbed both of his hands

"I have no idea what I'm doing, I have felt lonely and lost for longer than I can remember, then you work your way in and finally I'm not trying to figure everything out on my own anymore. I felt so safe Wade, like I could deal with all my crazy town, crazy family, Zoe-like crap because at the end of the day you were right there with me." He smiled and pulled her closer.

"And I'm a big girl I can get by on my own but I don't want too. I don't want to live my life just getting by anymore and I don't think you do either. So really, please leave if you think it's going to do anything other than make us both miserable and-" he cut her off, with a kiss just like he did just a few feet away a few days after they first met, this time it was full of so much more than either of them could say.

He pulled away, stroking his thumb across her cheek "You're bossy Doc you know that?"

She sighed contently playing with the buttons of his shirt "I know."

"And I swear I didn't cheat on you, I could never."

"I know."

They had a long way to go, that they both knew. Wade would probably have to grovel and bit and Zoe would let him think it was necessary. Neither were kidding when they said they had no idea what they were doing but Wade thought he knew where to start;

"Hey Hart" he said knocking her out of her thoughts "I think I love you."

Zoe beamed raising onto her tips toes and whispered "I think I love you too."

**The End.**


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